Readers take on wasteful spending, poor grammar, big words

Your turn to sound off about everything from wasted money to my many flaws.

Scott, you must be a lot tougher than you look in your picture in the Sentinel. Whatever the case, your columns are the best. — Gary

Indeed, Gary. Beneath my tutu, I am ripped.

Scott, I am outraged that the Legislature is using my taxpayer dollars to overturn the Fair-Districts referendum. They should go to jail for more than one year. That is all they understand. — Janice

Jail may be a bit drastic, Janice. But you're not alone in your outrage. I've received more angry letters about House Speaker Dean Cannon's decision to pay lawyers $300 an hour — with your tax money — to try to overturn your vote than I have on any other topic in recent months. In fact, I can recall only one person mounting a full-throated defense of this spending … and that person worked for Cannon.

Scott, are you kidding me? These guys claim they can't figure out exactly how much of my money they are spending on this? — Frank

Frank, if I were kidding, I'd tell my son's favorite dirty joke. (Why did Tigger look in the toilet? He was trying to find Pooh.) No, Cannon's office claims it's unable to determine precisely how much of your money has been spent taking voters to court.

How can any lawyer — much less a [former] partner at GrayRobinson — not keep track of the billable hours and expenses on any case? — Alfredo

Maybe because some politicians forget how to accurately track money when it's other people's money they're spending.

Why didn't Cannon, Ms. [Corrine] Brown, and Mr. [Mario] Diaz-Balart save us all some time and trouble and just tell us if we voted for Fair Districts, they would deduct $300 from our bank accounts? — Bobbi

Good point, Bobbi. Financial blackmail would've been more effective than the lame gerrymandering defense they tried to trot out.

I appreciate you calling out those on both sides of the aisle on this Fair-Districts mess. — Jim

You bet, Jim. Self-serving politicking knows no partisan boundaries.

I want to point out your English is incorrect. You wrote: "Most every year." It's ALMOST every year. There's no such thing as "MOST every year." I beg you: Correct it! Because we'll have a generation of idiots who will think this the right way to speak. — Anonymous caller

Hey, Scott. I'm reading your column about politicians trying to make dummies out of us. Well, you made a dummy out of me this morning. You have a word in your column that I can't pronounce or find in the dictionary. Fiefdoms: F-I-E-F-D-O-M-S. Please explain what that means. — Elizabeth

A dummy? Elizabeth, I'm the one using the wrong words. But to answer your question: A fiefdom (FEEF-dum) is a territory controlled by a politician or ruler … (al)most every time.

When you criticize Rick Scott, you sound like a bitter loser. Four years of Democrats in Washington, and you never criticized a single one of them a single time. — Paul M.

You got me, Paul … well, except for the times I criticized Barack Obama for things such as debt hypocrisy and shortchanging our veterans. And the multitudes of times I've knocked Corrine Brown. And Suzanne Kosmas. And Bill Nelson. And the small rain forest we sacrificed printing a dozen or so columns beating on Alan Grayson. But other than that, not a single time.

We have the first black person ever elected as lieutenant governor in the person of Republican Jennifer Carroll and suddenly [you] want to eliminate the job? How curious. — America

America, if I'm a racist, I'm very sneaky about it. Because the first time I suggested axing this useless position was two years ago … when Jeff Kottkamp held it. So maybe I'm really out to get white men.

If I have the misfortune to come back in a future life as an orphan in Florida, my greatest hope is that you and [104.1 FM's] Jim Philips will come back as the gay couple that adopts me. — Michael

I dunno, Michael. Aside from my wife's presumed objections, Jim seems as if he can be a little bossy.